FV Kimberly aground in Portage Bay, Alaska
The Coast Guard rescued 11 fishermen from two different vessles in less than 24 hours in extreme weather conditions Wednesday, January 24th including the FV Kimberly pictured above. The entire of state of Alaska has been experiencing brutal weather conditions this winter. From record snowfalls in Valdez and Cordova to growing sea ice in the Bering Sea. Now, the Deadliest Catch fleet is threatened by the approaching ice pack.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, “Sea ice is encroaching unusually early on the central Bering Sea, threatening to grind Alaska’s economically important snow crab fishery to a halt at the peak of the season, leaving crabbers facing major losses.
Earlier-than-expected ice is moving south over prime crabbing grounds, forcing boats away from their catch and putting millions of dollars of equipment in jeopardy.
These kind of “mother nature effects” are part of the fishing business everywhere, said Karen Gillis, the executive director of the Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association.
But this fishery, which was expected to net 80 million pounds this year, hasn’t seen a natural event like this in 20 years, she said, and it could have a devastating economic impact on crabbers and their families.” Read much more on the story here.
According to Channel 2 news in Anchorage, “The NWS is fielding dozens of phone calls a day from crab fishermen, who are looking for an update on where the sea ice is at.
“Most people are picking their pots up and getting them out of harm’s way,” said Jim Stone, president of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.
Crab pots can cost over $1,000.
This year’s quota is 90 million pounds, which is a lot more than previous years.
Mid-January is the peak of the snow crab season in Alaska, but it opens in mid-October, and ends May 31.
Fishermen plan on waiting out the weather at local ports.
“A lot of wait and see, and realizing that things can change at any time,” Heather Fitch, the Dutch Harbor area biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said.” Watch a video newscast of the story here.
Apparently, a person walking the docks in St. Paul Harbor looking for a deckhand job captured this video of the FV Northwestern entering the harbor recently.
Here, at the Cornelia Marie family we believe in a few simple things. “Work hard, Play Hard” or “Work hard, play harder” if you prefer. We believe in a strong work ethic. Capt Phil said, “Everybody wants to be big time, they just don’t want to work for it.” If you are of able and [...]
As the Deadliest Catch boats prepare for the October 15th King Crab opening, the Cornelia Marie sits in dry dock. The CM has been in dry dock at Ketchikan, Alaska for a few weeks and will likely be there for a couple more. We are simply performing maintenance and taking care of some issues. In [...]
Season 7 of Deadliest Catch has concluded. The FV Cornelia Marie has been featured on the Discovery Channel show for six years in a row. Since the passing of our skipper Capt. Phil Harris, the future of the Cornelia Marie as it appears on television has been uncertain. There’s a good chance that our [...]
Yesterday, the FV Cornelia Marie (CM) cast its lines for the Bering Sea or Bristol Bay to be more exact. The CM is a working boat. It works year round in multiple fishing industries. You see it on the Deadliest Catch fishing for King and Opilio crab during the fall and winter. During the summers, [...]
Deadliest Catch airs tonight on Discovery Channel. Tonight will be the first show for the Opilio crab season. The FV Cornelia Marie Blue Crab season ended in a most unexpected way which resulted with our skipper Derrick Ray parting ways with the FV Cornelia Marie. As a follower of this website, you learned from an [...]
Deadliest Catch has informed the world about commercial fishing in Alaska. However, the show does distort the industry if one doesn’t understand the full context of the fishing business. I read an article last week entitled, “Deadliest Catch’s captivating tale of addiction” by Matt Zoller Seitz of salon.com. Mr. Seitz is a good writer. He [...]
Since Discovery Channel aired the episode entitled, “Thick as Thieves” on May 24th, we have been inundated with a lot of opinions about who is right and wrong between Capt. Derrick, Jake and Josh. This latest article by ew.com provides both sides equal time in answering all the questions that you may have. -Morgan (I [...]
Every year on the first Sunday of May, the Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial has a service to honor those who were lost at sea. Yesterday, the Cornelia Marie family attended the service to honor Capt. Phil. I attended, along with my mother Cornelia and her husband Hugh. Josh was there, along with his grandfather Grant and [...]
In this unedited interview available only on the Pat and Tom Show, KNCI website, Producer/Cameraman (and Coloma resident) Todd Stanley talks about the heart wrenching season finale of Deadliest Catch, and remembers his friend, Captain Phil Harris. _____________________________________________________________ [Pat] Yeah, and it was really tough to watch, but at the same time, I’ve told you [...]
Discovery Channel hosted a memorial service for Capt. Phil’s family and friends today. It was an event most agreed Phil would have loved. F/V Cornelia Marie crew members flew in from the Bering Sea to join former crew members and other Bering Sea captains. Many of the “Deadliest Catch” boat captains were in attendance to [...]
Seas 2/Epi 13: “We cheated death one more time. I feel like a one legged man in an ass Kicking contest!” Seas 3/Epi 2: “This ain’t a hamburger stand out here, y’know? This is the real deal and people really die.” Seas 3/Epi 5: “You’re not a man ’til you’ve pulled a tooth out [...]
The following is a Discovery Channel transcript from a live internet chat with Capt. Phil and Josh on May 22, 2007 Discovery: Welcome to this week’s Deadliest Catch chat. Our guests tonight are Phil Harris, Captain of the Cornelia Maria, and his son Josh Harris. Jake Harris isn’t able to be with us tonight, as [...]
